NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-12-2024 3AM EST

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

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Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The list of those teed up to serve in President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration is growing. Among the latest is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Trump is expected to name him as his choice for Secretary of State.

Trump has also tapped former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin to run the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the League of Conservation Voters, Zeldin opposed a handful of climate-related legislation while in Congress. And Pia Rosalina Moore reports. Trump praised Lee Zeldin in a statement, saying the former congressman will, quote, unleash the power of American businesses.

He added that Zeldin will still maintain the highest environmental standards. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly vowed to increase domestic production of oil and natural gas. He also criticized Democratic-led incentives for electric vehicles and pledged to reduce current climate spending. Choosing Zeldin sparked backlash from some environmental groups, who say he's a step backward for climate policy. Elena Moore, NPR News, Washington. Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego has won election to the U.S. Senate in Arizona.

The Associated Press has called the race, saying the latest vote count closed off any remaining paths to victory for Republican Kerry Lake. Following the shooting over the weekend on the Alabama campus of Tuskegee University, the school's president, Dr. Mark Brown, says Tuskegee is no longer an open campus. Effective immediately, we require IDs for everyone to be displayed to enter campus and worn at all times while on campus. The shooting left an 18-year-old man dead and at least 16 others injured, a dozen by gunfire. Authorities have a 25-year-old man in custody. They say he was found leaving the scene with a

handgun, with a machine gun conversion device. Authorities have not accused him of using the gun in the shooting, but have charged him with possession of a machine gun. There's another legal curveball in the September 11th terrorism case at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A military court judge has postponed a hearing where the alleged mastermind and two accomplices were going to plead guilty. That's because the Pentagon continues to insist that plea deals reached with the three men are invalid, as NPR's Sasha Pfeiffer reports. This case is complicated, so here's some background. Last summer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants agreed to plea deals that would

let them get life sentences rather than face the death penalty. But 48 hours later, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rescinded those deals. Then last week, a Guantanamo judge ruled that Austin had exceeded his authority and acted too late by trying to reverse plea deals that had already been made. Now the Pentagon is appealing that ruling. And because of that appeal the guilty pleas have been delayed. So the case continues to drag on more than 20 years since the 9-11 attacks. Sasha Pfeiffer, NPR News. And from Washington

you're listening to NPR News. Verizon's Fios internet customers are reporting a widespread outage affecting multiple states on the East Coast. According to a map of customer reports on Down Detector, Fios appears to be having trouble from New York to Virginia. An investigation into exploding pagers in Lebanon sold by a Taiwanese company has turned up no wrongdoing in Taiwan. And Pierce Emily Fang reports a company in question says they only provided their trademark but did not make the deadly pagers. A Taipei prosecutor's office says they investigated two individuals in Taiwan who headed two companies that licensed the brands found on the pagers which exploded and killed at least 37 people

in Lebanon. But those two people had no idea exactly who was ultimately buying the pagers, which exploded and killed at least 37 people in Lebanon. But those two people had no idea exactly who was ultimately buying the pagers, and did not know that the pagers had been modified later on to explode in the hands of Hezbollah members, the investigation found. NPR found that Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies providing that trademark were paid through a Hungarian company that in turn took payments from a Bulgarian registered company, both of which authorities in the respective country say were shell firms meant to disguise the true customer. Emily Fang, PN News, Taipei, Taiwan

Despite Monday's rally on Wall Street, the financial markets in Asia are mostly down in Tuesday trading. Japan's benchmark Nikkei reversed earlier gains and closed down four-tenths of a percent. Shares also fell in Australia, South Korea and China. After most US markets rose on Monday, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, finished at a record high. This is NPR News.